Asia Pacific Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2023 - 2028)

The Asia-Pacific MVNO market will register a CAGR of 7.93% over the forecast period. Wireless service providers, known as mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs), purchase network capacity from already-existing MNOs to provide services to customers.

Key Highlights

• In an increasingly digital world and a fragmented telecommunications sector, MVNOs were expanding and bringing new value to consumers and established mobile network operators by utilizing innovative technology and exploring new verticals. E-Sim, AI, ML, and edge computing are new technological enablers that are giving MVNOs new opportunities.
• In developed countries, MVNOs are well-established, and as developing economies develop, their significance will rise. Due to MNOs' dominance in the low-cost cellular services industry in developed and developing nations, competition in the Asia-Pacific MVNO market has recently changed from pricing to value-added services and product differentiation. The development of 5G and IoT technology is increasing the expansion of the MVNO sector as a whole. For enterprises and mobile end users, current developments show a need for demand flexibility and a wider selection of services. In order to offer new services, MVNOs are utilizing the potential of 5G and IoT, two of the most disruptive technologies.
• Asian mobile markets are enormous and include a wide range of products. The mobile market environments of Japan, South Korea, China, Hong Kong, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) nations differ. In contrast to MVNOs, which have few assets tethered to the land, mobile network operators (MNOs), who are primarily domestic creatures, could not sustain this variance and diversity through their efforts.
• However, lack of prioritization, which means that during periods of high traffic, MVNOs would frequently see their data speeds slowed down as the main network operator (like T-Mobile) prioritizes the data speeds of its own customers. This could impede market expansion.
• The Asia-Pacific region is not an exception to how COVID-19 pushed the global digital transformation. The importance of the Internet has been brought to light by the quick development of online education and health services, e-commerce, and remote working. As a result, the APAC region's MVNO market is being driven by the resilient performance of the mobile industry, which has experienced flat growth in mobile subscribers and a minor decline in earnings.

Asia Pacific Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) Market Trends

Internet Penetration and e-SIM Solutions Driving the MVNO Market

• The market under study is thriving, and most of the Asia Pacific countries' regulatory environments are improving. As a result, the number of MVNO subscribers in the area has accelerated. Key growth drivers for the sector include efforts to implement 5G and extensive use of e-SIM.
• In the Asia-Pacific region, there will be USD 1.8 billion unique mobile customers in 2025, according to the GSMA. Also, according to the GSMA, India will account for 166 million users and 333 million mobile internet users, or almost 50% of the new consumers in the region, by 2025. The demand for affordable data and voice services drives the market's expansion. This supports service providers who buy network services at wholesale prices from MNOs and resell them as bundled services for less money than MNOs do.
• The increased popularity of e-SIM is also projected to expand. With remote provisioning standards, the e-SIM offers MVNOs' vendors simplicity and flexibility. By utilizing e-SIM technology, MVNOs are adopting digital channels to engage end consumers and provide companies with IoT solutions.
• E-SIM popularity is increasing because it enables end users to quickly and easily buy connectivity from any operator, anytime, anywhere. Since MVNOs concentrate on introducing cutting-edge, dynamic, and user-centric solutions to the market, this is the key to new opportunities. The e-SIM functionality also allows MVNOs to deal directly with Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), who might connect handsets to certain network operators.

Reseller Mode of Operation is Dominating

• Resellers are third-party agreements that market a provider's or operator's services while adhering to a standard service SLA. The operator or overall service provider issues a single bill. An MVNO reseller may use its brand or join the MNO.
• The branded reseller typically brings brand distribution channels or a sizable customer base to the table, both of which can be used to increase sales. Mobile resellers seek to provide their clientele with personalized mobile communication pricing. Companies who want to enhance their brand with mobile communication services could use branded resellers.
• The MNO retains most of the processes; the reseller is frequently the MVNO type that is easiest to convince a mobile network operator to accept. An MVNO can offer its value-added services (VAS) using this strategy. Due to a lack of operational control, the restricted responsibility makes this market segment less risky for the MVNO.
• In September 2022, Zero1 launched its 5G services, covering over 95% of Singapore on the first day. The 60u 5G and 90u 5G packages were introduced by the MVNO to give customers the best 5G service possible. It is a Singtel MVNO Partner. This business model forbids MVNOs from setting pricing and does not grant them ownership of the subscriber, the infrastructure, or the SIM. Only MVNOs are equipped to manage branding and distribution.

Asia Pacific Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) Industry Overview

The Asia Pacific MVNO market is highly competitive, mostly as a result of the participation of several players. The market is becoming more fragmented as large firms use tactics like service innovation and strategic alliances to grow their clientele and maintain market dominance.

In November 2022, Singtel and SK Telecom inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to build the metaverse business together in the nations where Singtel is present, starting with Singapore. Under the terms of the Agreement, Singtel will share its commercial and technological know-how with the Asia-Pacific area, while SKT will contribute its expertise and knowledge gained through running its metaverse platform, ifland, in Korea.

In August 2022, Rakuten Mobile Inc. announced the opening of the Rakuten Mobile Open Innovation Lab, a technology verification environment that utilizes the technologies and experience acquired by the operator through building its Open vRAN commercial mobile network. Rakuten Mobile will also expand the lab to accelerate the research and development of Open vRAN in Japan and globally, contributing to the promotion of disaggregated architecture and containerization to run cloud-native network functions on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware. This new approach to mobile networks brings many benefits to carriers, including a reduction of the total cost of ownership (TCO) and increased automation and innovation.

Additional Benefits:

• The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format
• 3 months of analyst support

This product will be delivered within 2 business days.